(I don't think we have a) Dyna Thread (yet)

[/IMG] I rode my '09 Street Bob to Key West from Columbia during Bikeweek.

Day 1 - 159 miles.

Congratulations on finally riding your beautiful new bike! I hope you will enjoy it for a long time and many miles.

I am also looking round for a cruiser type bike, I feel I'm slowly getting to the right age for it lol.

The Switchback is pretty high on my list, because it looks the part, isn't too big and heavy and it's a HD. A few weeks ago I went to the local HD dealer and they offered me a test ride on their brand new demo, a sparkling deep red shiny and chromey thing of beauty.

I took it for 20 miles over various types of roads at speeds between 30 and 70 mph, but I'm sorry to say that it was a huge disappointment. The feel of riding a Harley is unique, the seating position, steering, suspension all are fine for me, braking is a bit weak but bearable - but the thing was vibrating like an Ann Summers Special. It was shaking so much that I seriously thought it was going to fall apart. I couldn't find a sweet spot anywhere between idle and 3000 rpm where it wasn't rattling my balls off. I can't see myself ride this thing for longer than half an hour at the time.

Bloody great shame, because if it wasn't for this I would probably have bought it.

The salesman said 'yeah they sometimes do that' and then offered me a ride on a Softail Heritage Classic, and although of course a step up in size and weight, the ride was much smoother and highly enjoyable. I am not all that much into the studded look and the handlebars were a bit high so it wasn't quite the right bike for me, but it made me think. I'm now contemplating a Softail Deluxe to equip it with bags and windshield of my liking. Am still trying to convince myself that I can handle the size and weight though, and I need to understand how good it would be at touring long distance.

Anyway, enough rambling - I hope your Switchback is less vibey than the one I rode and that you'll have a great time with it!

fG

The first switch i test rode was shitty.
Really bad vibes from that thing.
Liked the bike so much tho,
I tested another.
Mucho better.

Yeah I've never understood the Dyna inconsistency from bike to bike. Have never been able to fix it either.

The Fat Bob's pegs will eventually touch down, but your boot heels will provide warning first! The screaming eagle pipes will scrape too.... lol. Ask how I know.

A buddy and I both have 07 Dynas. His was smooth as silk and mine shook like a dog shitting peach pits, but I got a real good deal used because of it. It took me a couple of hours to fix it, now it is fairly smooth.
I'm a major tinkerer and usually take shit apart first chance I get, so it didn't bother me like it does a lot of people
Dynas do have some quirks that put alot of people off but really like mine and ride it every day.

It's also the only bike I have had that my wife will get on, so that in itself is worth a hell of alot.

P.S. beautiful Switch Back

Hey Fish!
Yep, I've had my heels kicked left and right in the appropriate corners, but if I'm scrapeing the V&H short shots than I'm on the ground! :eek1 My Softtail, I had V&H long shots, seemed like every time I dropped into a right hander the pipes ground, scared the crap out of me. Love the Dyna when I compare the two.

Mmmm, I think I might go and test ride a couple more of them...

Anymore, the vibes can be fixed.
There's service bulletins a dealer can perform;
regarding torquing bolts and shaving isolators.
Albeit most owners have fixed the problem
with a clevis pin in about 3 minutes.

there are numerous threads on how to fix them in less than an afternoon.
here is mine-



I have just shy of 30k on it now (23k with no rear suspension and the apes).

just got it running again last weekend (ex-roomate took it out joyriding and messed the trans up) have done just short of 500miles since then. Yeah, it may be the antithesis of an adventure bike (or a sane one) but it's my bitch and I love her.

How would the Switchback be for touring, say a week to ten days, 250 - 300 miles a day or so, solo camping? No offroad, few motorways, mainly secondary roads, hilly country (read: France, Spain, Italy). Riding position, seat, overall luggage capacity etc. Or would a Softail be better for trips like that?
Such trips are a breeze on the Wee but I think it might be time for a change :)

That's why I bought the switch.

Did a week of 500mile days last year on a '04 sportie,
camped every night.
Decided I needed something more touring oriented,
more for my comfort than for capacity.

The bags are smaller than touring models.
Not a problem for me, as I pack light.
I fit everything I needed for that trip,
in a duffel and a tank bag.

The riding position, so far, is very comfortable
for my 5'9" frame.

Stock, I could take this bike across the county with no complaints.

I don't know much about softails,
but I know you would loose some cornering clearance
compared to the switch.

bloodweiser: I might have about 5 lbs on you, but otherwise I'm the same height and inseam. my experience has been about yours, went into a couple of dealerships specifically to look at RK's, sat on a couple of them and thought "hm, this is designed for a larger creature". It's not even the weight so much as it's the wideness of the things. then sat on the switchback and, ta-da it fits as-is.

I'd like a more touring-capable machine than my sportster, but the XR is so much fun to ride for shorter runs that I'm not sure if I can bring myself to trade it in on a BT.

Well, I might be springing for a Dyna. Got pretty turned on by a Street Glide during a recent rental. BUT I'm thinking a Super Glide Custom, detachable shield and a nice pair of bags? Looked at the Switch. Didn't do it for me. Dont need a "real" bagger. Just too much bike for me on a day to day basis. I used to have an '02 FXD, which I wish I still had, but methinks the new ones are pretty nice.
Lyle

My wife got a '13 Super Glide Anniversary. She's put a screen, a backpack and a backrest to carry the backpack on it. This model comes with abs and smooth rims, black and root beer paint.

I've ridden it. It handles and rides quite nicely. A bit cramped for me at 6'3", but perfect for her at 5'7". She's had a Low Rider and a couple of bmw's including most recently a r12r. She much prefers the SG.

That's a good looking girl there Tree. My back is too jacked up to go w/out shocks. Like the Apes though!

it actually doesn't ride much worse with the struts on it- because of my considerable ass, and the general lack of suspension travel on harley's in general, the rear springs had to be ridiculously stiff to prevent bottoming, and really didn't move much on small bumps- and on the bigger bumps, it seemed like the swingarm just got a running shot before kicking the living sh#t out of me lol.
After I put the struts on, I did the whole "slow down way too much for every little bump" thing for about a week, but after that I was back to riding as normally as I ever do.

The only things that REALLY suck is railroad tracks (but they always did), and segmented concrete highways (the rear tire will actually begin to "dribble" of the ground, depending on speed)

Over where I work, there are a bunch of rail road tracks and many of them are diagonally across the road. Wet days get interesting either on my Dyna or my DR.